West Brom shortcoming played down by Baggies individual

West Brom’s season last year was fairly up and down and, although the Baggies showed signs of quality, they were unable to perform consistently and fell out of the play-off spots as a result. 

Nevertheless, manager Steve Bruce is eager for his side to push further up the table next season and he has made some good signings so far including Jed Wallace and John Swift to back up this ambition.

It’s not just the manager who is setting high standards at the club either, with defender Conor Townsend challenging his forwards to add to the goals next season.

Albion haven’t scored as much as they would’ve liked so far during pre-season, having been beaten by Stevenage and drawing against Crewe Alexandra.

However, Townsend believes his side’s forwards will be fine by the time the season comes, as he told the Express and Star: “We know that we need to work on that [chance conversion] and that’s the same as last season as well, I guess.

“As far as our defensive stats last season, we were still pretty good. Scoring goals was our problems.

“But that is on us as a team, that’s not just on the strikers, that’s down to all of us.

“It’s better that we are creating chances, I’d be worried if we weren’t creating any. But we’ve got players who are going to get goals.

“Grady [Diangana] looks like he is flying. He has come back and is on it.

“And with the people we have got in the squad, you’d be hopeful we are going to convert those chances.

“We’ve created lots of opportunities in the friendlies. It will come.

“A lot of it with the strikers is confidence, when one goes in they will flourish.”

The Verdict: 

Bruce has made some good signings so far this summer that should help boost his side’s efforts going forward. The boss may still be